Catrina's Over the Top and Rancid April and May Catchall

[gimmeeyeballs]

Who: Catrina and Anyone Unfortunate Enough to be Around her...

What: Catrina getting into no good tomfoolery and chaos...Mightyena please ground this candle..

When: Throughout April and May....Oh Arceus..

Where: The Bay, PARTS UNKNOWN, and more to be added as the months go on...

Warnings: Catrina being a walking CW of sorts, potential peril, and more to be added as the months go on...

Comments

THIS IS THE STORY OF A BIIIIRD~ *Going UP* (Closed to Cedric)

[gimmeeyeballs]

This should've been a quiet quest, it really should've been, especially with the gathering and preparing necessary parts. Alas, Cedric had the misfortune of getting a certain candle as a partner for it. Sure, Catrina behaved, FOR TWO WHOLE MINUTES as Spinarak gave the run down of things. It was likely because the giant spiders back home were basically the equivalent of house cats that managed that magical moment of Catrina listening. It's a talking kitty cat in Catrina's eyes...

That moment of peace ended the moment Spinarak went off to take care of other things. Soon enough, gathering parts, Catrina starts singing a song. Upside for Cedric, it's a really good operatic soprano voice singing it, down side...well:

"This is the story of a biiiiird~! Who cried a whole river and drowned the whole world~! Looks so sad in portraits I absolutely love it when he eats his roooocks~!"

[cedricthegreat]

Gathering, Cedric can do, and Spinarak clearly knew this or else he wouldn't be assigned to the task. With the number of Pokémon who are quick to collect items, he's almost certain this job would be without hassle, at most inconvenienced by the terrain.

But of course, he forgot about Catrina. At this point, he should have expected her to not leave him alone, yet here he is flinching violently over the sudden warbling of-

Hold on, is she actually singing... properly? And rather nicely, if he were to admit it to himself. The lyrics, though? Atrocious. Don't even have a proper rhythm, let alone the fact that she's clearly mocking him with those lines. Perhaps in defiance, he refuses to acknowledge them, in the vain hopes she may finally stop pestering him.

Instead he says, as a casual aside, "Where did you learn to sing like that?"

[gimmeeyeballs]

Well, that was new, at least, this was new to Catrina anyways. Catrina takes her sweet time considering, occasionally attempting to sneak a rock into her mouth.

Eh, what the hell, Cedric was part of this found family unit, he might as well know.

"The donors saw I had talent early in my life at age five and had me training ever since before running away at nineteen."

Catrina shrugs before going back to help with gathering, it was the past and the donors were no longer there. Sure one of the reasons was because of assisted karma, it still wasn't Catrina's problem anymore.

[cedricthegreat]

Every time she attempts to eat a rock, he quietly pulls it away with his talon, like discouraging a toddler from grabbing groceries off the shelves.

"Donors? What, do they give you money out of sympathy?" He does think to himself how one might pity someone as crazy as Catrina, but his tone indicates curiosity rather than mockery.

He turns his back to her to continue collecting sticks and other such things. At first it seems like he does this to ignore her, but then after a moment he gently adds, "It seems you were trained quite well."

[gimmeeyeballs]

"Not really, they gave birth to me and were just shitty people in general."

It was an understatement on Catrina's end, she wasn't a fan of her biological parents at all...they both were absolute monsters in general. The candle eyes those rocks that are carefully pulled away from her by Cedric. No fair, Cedric should at least share the rocks if he's not gonna eat 'em.

"Thanks, I was pretty popular in the opera scene." Catrina eyes the stick for the munching...Catrina no.

And They Were Roommates... (backdated slightly)

[bugbeverage]

It's been interesting for his first day back in civilization. Mightyena was gracious and accepted him back into her fold as well as buying a few of his one-of-a-kind self portraits. Now he's bushed and he drags himself into the little room one foot after the other, upright as always. This world couldn't make him walk on four legs.

He angles himself for the nearest bed-shaped mass and flops face-forward into it. "Jeez louise..."

Clearly good times ahead for both BJ and Catrina...

[gimmeeyeballs]

Woah, mysterious stripped creature of unknown origins? Catrina goes to peak out of her Dragon Type PokeSkull bed to check it out. Was it a dog, a cat, or a badger? Catrina wasn't sure what she was looking at as she scrunches up that Litwick face of hers.

Jeez Louise? That might be his name then, totally without doubt.

"Hey Jeez Louise, yah new here or something?"

[bugbeverage]

Beetlejuice lifts his head from the humble nest. A single blade of straw is stuck to his muzzle. Who said that? He almost misses Catrina on his first pass of the room because of how she was situated in a big skull. She just looked like a regular candle. Candles and skulls went together. It was a thing.

But then he notices her little face and slowly tilts his head.

"You could say that."

[gimmeeyeballs]

Woah...he was giving some soggy vibes as Catrina returns the head(?) tilt. Maybe Beetlejuice was some sort of deep sea fish beforehand? Would explain the soggy energy and they always get funky looking when brought to land.

Oh Beetlejuice, that is indeed a talking candle from within a dragon skull...

"Well shit, nice to meet yah, Jeez Louise. Where'd yah come from?"

[bugbeverage]

Beetlejuice finally catches on that he's been given a nickname. Two feelings duel within him. The first is the urge to be familiar enough, desired enough, to receive the gift of a name. The other feeling is he fucking hates it.

"Hell." His answer isn't boastful, in fact it's a little weary sounding. He's so tired.

DIGGY DIGGY HOLE

[ba_boom]

It's perhaps unsurprising that Impmon is already in the caves by the time Catrina arrives, and he seems to be munching something like popcorn- Are those a bunch of tiny still-rock-encrusted pieces of quartz crystals? They sure are. He's got a couple of little red gloves, but he's removed the glove from his right claw-hand to facilitate the consumption of cronchy rocks.

He barely even looks up at Catrina's approach.

"You the one I'm supposed to be diggin' with?"

He sounds more than a little skeptical as he looks her over. She's... a candle? A candle. Huh. Okay, he has no idea how digging is gonna work with a candle, but whatever. They'll make it work. He's honestly confident enough to do this himself, but he knows they like the buddy system around here, it's fine.

And he apparently isn't too polite, because he then crams another mouthful of crystals into his mouth. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.

[gimmeeyeballs]

It was no wax off Catrina's core, she was always rather rude herself. So this was the other gremlin Catrina had to work with, eh? Sure it's gonna be a challenge, but yah know what...

"Yeah, I'm here to help out with the cave. You gonna share that?" The grodiest little candle is eying the crystals to munch herself...Kris got Catrina hooked on rock chewing..

Catrina goes to hold out a little stubby wax arm towards Impmon...

Yeah she's gonna pester him for the crunchy rocks of joy.

This is off to a good start, maybe? Catrina isn't the best candle out there, but at least she isn't fixating on the pinecones to eat...again.

[ba_boom]

Huh? Wait, the candle eats rocks?

...Yeah, alright, fine. Whatever. He reluctantly shoves his hand out toward Catrina.

"Alright, alright, since you asked so nice."

It's still nowhere near the worst impression a new face has made on him around here, honestly.

[gimmeeyeballs]

This weirdo candle absolutely eats rocks as she goes to place one into her mouth Ala the jawbreakers from Ed, Edd, n' Eddy. Catrina is fully satisfied with this arrangement.

The crunching of rocks is a fine tune indeed...cronch cronch...

"Thanks, I needed that. Now, where you want me to start diggin'?"

Catrina had been curious how well Acid Armor might work on the cave walls...Catrina no!

[ba_boom]

...Well, hey, least she just took one. He's still not sure how a candle would- well, not like he can talk, he was some sort of ghost now and he ate rocks.

"We gotta go further in. There's a smell to it that I'm startin' to pick up. C'mon."

He gestures to follow him and heads deeper into the caves.

I MADE IT THROUGH THE WILDERNESS, I MADE IT THROUGH~ (Closed to Emporio and Kaiba)

[gimmeeyeballs]

Everything was going to be fine, they said. New improvement to the way they get to new locations, they said. Nothing terrible could possibly happen, they said. Sure, it felt like any other normal teleportation like before, but the location...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Karma clearly had it out for the wretched candle when the prototype waystation decided 'nah, let's have you be in the marshlands bro.' Instead of seeing Chimecho or even the others that were joining in on the rescue efforts, wet and sticky marshlands was there for this team!

Catrina isn't registering that though, oh no, she's shaking her Grumpearl in an attempt to make it work before finally chewing on it in frustration. "DAMN IT WHY WON'T YOU WORK!?"

[seacub]

There are a lot of ways, Emporio has thought, that this could have been worse. One is that they could have been dropped directly into the ocean. He's not sure how that could have happened, but considering they have no idea where they are? He's pretty sure it was at least a possibility, and he's glad they didn't land there! Once was enough!

The other thing was, well. Kaiba, of all things. Sure, he very clearly wasn't happy about any of this but... ...Well, he was also more than three times their size.

Which meant the type disadvantage he and Catrina had suddenly wasn't going to be as big a deal, even if the dragon was going to hate every minute of it.

Still.

That's a very small pile of 'pros' to the mounting pile of 'cons', including what has Catrina screaming again.

"I don't think chewing it is going to make things any better Catrina," he says after another outburst, sighing. Figures that Grumpearls have cell service issues. "...We should really focus on finding some place we can use as shelter while we get our bearings."

There's no visibly recognizable landmarks. The best shot they might have is if the sky clears enough by nightfall to see the stars, and that's really hit or miss. Beyond that, staying in place is plainly out of the question which only leaves moving in one precise direction for however long it takes for the situation to change.

It's not looking great!

[firstrateduelist]

Kaiba's certain this is his own personal Hell. He's stuck in a Hell of his own creation with a candle and a tiny dinosaur that are clearly in over their heads. That was why he had insisted, especially after seeing how Emporio had ended up after the last big quest he'd gone on.

He wouldn't have felt right leaving the kid without protection. And somehow, this chaos candle had ended up in the mix, because she was also small, if a bit aggravating. He had no idea what her age was, but she probably needed protection from herself, given how she was currently gnawing on her Grumpearl.

"Quit being ridiculous!" he snaps at her, though he resists the urge to let his tail lash about in irritation, because the marsh won't be any good for a candle and a dirt dinosaur.

Emporio's right, Kaiba won't like this part. But he will do what's necessary, or else why the hell did he come this far anyway? Things go wrong all the time in this stupid place, why not be teleported to a wetland instead of their goal?

Polteageist might have a high opinion of themselves, but Kaiba certainly does not after this mess. If you're going to show off something the guild's had a hand in, then at least make sure it works! This is not a good reflection on any of them, damn it!

"Clearly we need to get moving," he adds, a gruff agreement with Emporio. "But neither of you are properly equipped for this."

So again, as much as he hates it, he stoops low on all fours.

"Get on before I change my mind. And if either of you behave poorly, then you can put up with the water."

That...was more for Catrina than it was for Emporio. No less a threat though.

[gimmeeyeballs]

Now Catrina was a candle of very little thought about consequences, however, with the situation as it was and the fact Cat was indeed a very small candle, that threat hit pretty close.

Congrats Kaiba! You got the wretched candle's full attention as she looks up at you with those little orb eyes...it's like if someone decided marbles were a good idea for eyes..

"Fine, but I call first dibs on the head."

Well...that was the best possible route for a rancid candle in being agreeable. She goes to put the pearl away (where...who really knows...Pokemon be weird sometimes..) and goes to climb up the sparkling dragon for a ride, preferably on top of his head.

Damn, this sure was a swamp alright, good thing Catrina was raised in one. Sure, this is like a temperate swamp rather than a tropical swamp, but the geography should be similar or at the very least close enough.

"Well shit, this is like home then. Sure it's not a tropical swamp, but it should be close enough to navigate in. Wonder if there's eels to fish here to eat?"

....Catrina being helpful and recommending something that actually is food? This is either a very VERY bad omen or one of the better omens to get...there's a strong chance it's the former though, especially with Catrina involved.

[seacub]

"Uhhh...Should we maybe- oh- Uh."

Well, there goes Catrina. Emporio sighs, shrugs, and then carefully climbs up Kaiba's back like a good little cubone should. "Thanks, Kaiba. I'll do my best to keep watch for any possible soft spots in this bog...that and anything that could work for a shelter."

...Catrina suggesting good food is something of an omen, he can't help but think. That probably means it's a bit serious... ...

Hmmm. "...You can keep an eye out for sinkholes too, right Catrina?"

She'd recognize that right?

gardening antics !!

[sharpjustice]

Mayaka is waiting just outside the garden with her arms crossed. She's already spoken to Umemiya and gotten instructions on what he needs help with.

She would get started right away, if only her partner wasn't late!

[gimmeeyeballs]

There's a scurrying in the distance, a little waxy white blob is coming closer and closer and...There's Catrina! Looks like she overslept and...what's in her mouth? Catrina...?

Oh no...Catrina is wearing one of the makeshift dentures she made, the one pair made with a dragon fang, some rocks, and a sewing needle. Catrina looks just chipper though!

"I'm here hahah! Sorry for that wait, overslept a bit."

[sharpjustice]

Mayaka rubs her eyes in mild annoyance as she turns towards the approaching Litwick.

"You shouldn't be late whe-- wh-WHAT'S THAT IN YOUR MOUTH?!"

[gimmeeyeballs]

"You like 'em? They're my brand new teeth! I got folks to help me make a few pair of teeth to use last month."

Catrina is smiling brightly with those deranged dentures she made from various teeth and miscellaneous objects. "I call this pair my ear piercing teeth!"

[sharpjustice]

"No, I don't. They give me the creeps!" she says plainly.

She's less conscious about coming off as rude to Catrina now that they've known each other for awhile. Mayaka is also resigned to the fact that this little monstrous candle will do whatever she wants regardless of what anyone says.

"Why exactly do you need teeth, anyway?" she asks as they make their way over to an open patch of field to plant seeds.